512 Pixels

Martian dust looks brutal.

In a new support article titled “What’s a Twitter timeline?” the company dropped this little nugget of news:

Additionally, when we identify a Tweet, an account to follow, or other content that’s popular or relevant, we may add it to your timeline. This means you will sometimes see Tweets from accounts you don’t follow. We select each Tweet using a variety of signals, including how popular it is and how people in your network are interacting with it. Our goal is to make your home timeline even more relevant and interesting.

My Twitter timeline is relevant and interesting to me because I set it up. Twitter’s genius is that people can build their own experiences; I don’t want an algorithm made by a hipster developer interfering with that. I definitely don’t have to respect the decision.

You can subscribe to all of Relay FM’s shows in iTunes or via RSS in your podcast app of choice. We had all of the groundwork in place to redirect the feeds with 5by5’s help, but ran into some technical issues and decided new feeds would be best for Relay FM and our listeners in the longterm. Anyways, here are the links:

• Relay FM Master Feed: iTunes | RSS
• Analog(ue): iTunes | RSS
• Connected: iTunes | RSS
• Inquisitive: iTunes | RSS
• The Pen Addict: iTunes | RSS
• Virtual: iTunes | RSS

Flux V is the latest version of the ‘Dreamweaver killer’ from The Escapers. Flux V is flexible, powerful, and can fully edit existing websites using simple drag and drop. It isn’t a limited template-based web page creator, it allows total control of your site, including typing your own code, and still retain the ability to use WYSIWYG controls.

Flux V introduces all new FTP support, all new Master Elements, and an totally re-designed user interface that’s ready for Yosemite. It’s 64bit and faster than ever, using multi-threading to get the most performance out of your Mac.

This week, on the first episode of our new show, Myke, Federico and I discuss the past, present and future (lol) of the iPod.

If you were subscribed to The Prompt, you’ll need to resubscribe. We were hoping to avoid this, but ran into some technical reasons that new feeds would be better for everyone. You can do so here:

• iTunes
• RSS

We’ll be back next week with Episode 2, which should stream live on the Relay FM site.

Cyrus Farivar at Ars explains how Adam Curry’s audio-via-RSS experiment exploded into the world of content so many of us enjoy everyday.

Two notes:

• Apple University is now officially acknowledged by the company in public
• It’s great to see new faces that aren’t more middle age white guys

My very handsome five year old son is featured on the St. Jude website today. Go donate to save more childrens’ lives.

I love the What-If strips; this may be my new favorite.

Tim Cook:

Apple is committed to transparency, which is why we are publishing statistics about the race and gender makeup of our company. Let me say up front: As CEO, I’m not satisfied with the numbers on this page. They’re not new to us, and we’ve been working hard for quite some time to improve them. We are making progress, and we’re committed to being as innovative in advancing diversity as we are in developing our products.

Inclusion and diversity have been a focus for me throughout my time at Apple, and they’re among my top priorities as CEO.

As great as this, Apple still has a ways to go in some areas of its business.

Myke Hurley, on why we decided on creating a network:

Podcast networks are not pots of gold. They don’t guarantee you success nor advertising dollars. That still has to come from the hard work that you put in. Joining an established network today does not necessarily make you a runaway hit tomorrow.

So why do I want to set up a new network? For me there is one clear reason. I host six shows. Working on one show is a simple enough affair, but once you start to grow from there, it becomes a lot more tricky to scale. I don’t want to set up separate webpages for all of the shows that I do. For me, it makes most sense to put all my shows in one place that I can point people too. It’s as simple as that.

As I type this, it’s sometime between 1 and 2 in the morning on Saturday, August 9. My kids and wife are in bed. It’s raining. I’m on the couch, with my iPad, thinking about the last several weeks, months and years of doing whatever it is I do on the Internet.

This fall, 512 Pixels will be six years old. A few years into it, I got invited to be on The Bro Show, an interview show with two guys from England who wanted to talk to me about tech. We hit it off, and over the last four years, Myke and I have created hundreds of hours of audio content for listeners to enjoy.

A couple of years ago, Myke sent me an IM about the opportunity to join 5by5. He asked my advice, and I gave it. We joined 5by5 and kept making things together. We have enjoyed greater success than I ever thought possible. What we do is enjoyed by tens of thousands of people each week. We have parody Twitter accounts and t-shirts we’ve been asked to sign. The high is amazing.

Leading up to this year’s WWDC, Myke and I were talking about the future of our shows and about what the next step could be. I could tell it was leading to something bigger. We tossed ideas around and used the opportunity to meet with several people we look up to when in San Francisco and discuss our potential plans.

Since getting home from California, I’ve had many late nights like this. I’ve pored over business paperwork, set up a livestream server and reviewed endless rounds of design work. I’ve woken up almost every morning to a barrage of iMessages from Myke, following up on things, the six hours between our respective time zones slowly closing as we’ve worked longer and longer hours.

I’ve heard it said not to go into business with close friends, but there’s not another person on the Internet I’d rather make things with than Myke.

We’ve spent lots of money, lots of time and lots of energy in creating Relay FM. It’s ours. We’ve molded it with our own hands; what it is and what it becomes is up to us and our amazing hosts. Relay is a labor of love, and I think it shows.

In one week, thousands and thousands of people will download our shows and tap play on their devices, hearing Myke’s laugh, Federico’s accent, Brad’s passion and Casey’s near-cursing.

That makes it all worth it. Join us as we switch on.